Optima Newsletter

What Happens If You Don’t Report Crypto on Taxes? Cryptocurrency has become a mainstream investment, with millions of Americans buying, selling, trading, and earning digital assets every year. While crypto may operate differently than traditional investments, the tax rules surrounding it are well established. The IRS expects taxpayers to report taxable cryptocurrency transactions, and failing […]

Why Is My Tax Refund So Low This Year? If you opened your tax return expecting a large refund and instead saw a much smaller amount, you are not alone. One of the most common questions taxpayers ask each filing season is why their tax refund is so low this year, especially when their financial situation feels largely unchanged from […]

What is Reasonable Collection Potential (RCP)? If you owe back taxes and are exploring ways to resolve your debt, understanding reasonable collection potential (RCP) is critical. It is one of the most influential and often misunderstood factors the IRS uses when determining how aggressively to pursue collection and whether to accept less than the full […]

I Still Haven’t Received My W-2. Now What? If you’re concerned why you haven’t received your W-2, you’re not alone. Every filing season, taxpayers across the country find themselves waiting for a Form W-2 that hasn’t arrived. Sometimes it’s a simple mail delay. Other times, it’s tied to a job change, an employer going out […]

IRS Phishing Emails: Real Examples and Warning Signs IRS phishing emails remain one of the most widespread threats to taxpayers, and they continue to grow more sophisticated each year. As more tax services move online, scammers have found new ways to impersonate the Internal Revenue Service and trick people into sharing personal data or sending […]

2026 Tax Changes: What You Need to Know  The 2026 tax year brings a mix of inflation-based adjustments and structural reforms that will affect how much many Americans owe or save when they file their returns in 2027. Driven largely by routine IRS indexing and major provisions from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), […]